May 27, 2010

Lessons from the Meltdown

1. The American Century isn’t over.
2. Liberal capitalism works.
3. The rogue states are parasites.
4. The old left is dead.
5. Nobody really understands the world economy.
6. That goes double for financial markets.
7. The Battle of Financial Markets is over; the Battle of State Finance has begun.
8. The demographic crunch time is here.
9. Culture matters.
10. The politicization of economic governance is dangerous business.

He concludes
It is clear that the mix of democracy and capitalism is a dangerous if necessary brew; after decades in which we failed to think the costs and risks through, we are now suffering the consequences of policies that create dangerously perverse incentives in both political and economic spheres. Reducing damaging but popular forms of state intervention in the economy while ensuring the state retains the authority and the ability to provide the effective legal and regulatory frameworks without which no modern economy can flourish is the fiendishly difficult and delicate task which Europeans and Americans alike must now undertake.